The Information Commissions in India: A Jurisprudential Explication of Their Powers and Functions

AuthorRajvir S. Dhaka
Date01 December 2018
DOI10.1177/0019556118788481
Published date01 December 2018
Subject MatterArticles
Article
Indian Journal of Public
Administration
64(4) 703–716
© 2018 IIPA
SAGE Publications
sagepub.in/home.nav
DOI: 10.1177/0019556118788481
http://journals.sagepub.com/home/ipa
The Information
Commissions in India:
A Jurisprudential
Explication of Their
Powers and Functions
Rajvir S. Dhaka1
Abstract
The Right to Information (RTI) Act, 2005, provides for the Constitution of the
State Information Commissions (SICs) and the Central Information Commission
(CICs) for acting as the final appellate authorities. These Information Commissions
have been entrusted with statutory powers while hearing complaints and appeals.
These Commissions also enjoy the power to impose penalty and to recommend
disciplinary action against the public information officers. Besides, there prevails
large-scale confusion in them regarding the contents of Sections 18–20. This has
culminated in adverse comments on their decisions by the Supreme Court (SC)
and the High Courts (HC). An attempt is being made in this article to evaluate
the functioning of these commissions and also about the interpretations given by
various High Courts (HCs) and the Supreme Court (SC) about the Constitution,
transaction of business and powers of the Information Commissions.
Keywords
Right to Information, public information off‌icers, f‌irst appellate authority,
second appellate authority, state information commissions, Central Information
Commission, Sections 18(3) and 19
1 Faculty Member, Public Administration, Haryana Institute of Public Administration, Gurugram,
Haryana, India.
Corresponding author:
Rajvir S. Dhaka, Faculty Member, Public Administration, Haryana Institute of Public Administration,
Gurugram 122015, Haryana, India.
E-mail: rajvird@hipa.in

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